Psalm 61:3

Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; for You have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

We stand for Orderly Conduct!

The devil, like the Batman’s Joker, is an agent of
chaos.He loves chaos, thrives upon
discord and disorder.

But God is not a God of confusion, but a God of
peace.(I Corinthians 14:33)He has established His order within His
Church.He has established His order
within His creation.And we are to
follow that order.

Some of this order is easier to understand than
others.Parents are to discipline their
children, not the other way around.Teachers are to teach and students are to learn.Pastors are to forgive and preach while
laymen are to gladly receive these gifts.

But what about hierarchy?What about order in the Church when it goes
past pastors and laymen?Who tells the
pastors what to do?Who trains
them?Who will step in when the pastor
steps out of line?

These are questions that the Bible, by-and-large,
does not answer.Yet, we know that God
loves order, and not chaos.And so we do
everything in an orderly fashion.

An example: the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod has
a “system” (colleges and seminaries) for training pastors, teachers, and others
who serve in the church.This system is
not mandated by the Bible, yet it is beneficial.It provides a manner in which we have well
trained church leaders and servants.

Order is good.

Chaos is bad.

And so everything that we do within the Church is
striving after order and peace.

This is the very purpose of the Gospel.Christ has died and risen to restore the
creation to the proper order.By His
grace He grants us faith in the work of Jesus’ death and resurrection so that
we might serve each other (Ephesians 2:8-10).Order is restored.